“You don’t believe the official theory? Then tell me what happened to Barbara Olson!” I call this the “Barbara Olson Question,” issued usually by defenders of the theory of 9/11 that says, among other things, that the renowned political commentator was on a flight that was taken over by hijackers and smashed into the Pentagon.

To the one typically asking the question, there are only two choices: Olson perished in a plane crash at the Pentagon that day or Olson perished in a plane crash at the Pentagon that day. In other words, no other answer will be acceptable.The fact that Olson has apparently not been seen or heard from is proof positive that the plane crash (and the rest of the official story) is true.

Her alleged flight, American Airlines 77, was not scheduled to fly and did not fly that day according to the original Bureau of Transportation Statistics. For these reasons alone, we can rule out the official story.

Not that official theory defenders care. To understand this question, then, is to understand the other possible answers.

Possibility #1: Barbara Olson died in another manner on or after September 11, 2011. She may have taken another plane and gone somewhere else that day. She may have been killed by plotters or died of other causes.

Possibility #2: Barbara Olson lives today under a new identity. She may have been part of the plot and went somewhere else to live a new life with a new identity. Or she decided on her own to leave. Some have suggested she has returned to society with a new identity.

The details are simply not available for confirmation. But the problem with the Barbara Olson Question is with its users. Failure to tell them where Barbara Olson is at this moment is the same to them as failure to provide an adequate theory on that day’s events.

This issue illustrates the need to ask the right questions. The better question here is “What are the possibilities as to what happened to Barbara Olson.” Only then do we free ourselves from the trap the Barbara Olson Question poses.